Call Me American

Mogadishu becomes a “city of refugees” (57) from all over Somalia. While other clans look down on the Rahanweyn people, Abdi’s mother tries to help as many Rahanweyn people as she can. Many Rahanweyn are distraught and exhausted, like Abdi’s father, who never truly recovers from his experience. He struggles to comprehend how such bad fortune could afflict a good man. Though he tries to be devout, he has harassed by militiamen for his Rahanweyn identity.

Everyone in Mogadishu has guns except the Rahanweyn. Khadija, a member of the Hawiye tribe, has two guns. Her family practices shooting in case they need to protect their home. Madinah often talks to a group of Rahanweyn beggars often. Many of them were once rich and proud nomads, reduced to begging by the war and the drought. One day, a sniper shoots all of these beggars, claiming they were thieves. Abdi and Hassan know Mogadishu well enough to blend in, but their parents cannot. Abdi believes that if he had not been born in Mogadishu, he might be just like the rest of the Rahanweyn. Only one in four Rahanweyn children survives to adulthood.

After the foreign forces depart, the militias transform the airport into a place to kill anyone they dislike. The militiamen men are directionless: All they do is wake up, chew qat, sit around with their guns, and murder people.

One day, Abdi’s father decides to travel to his brother’s home; there, he discovers that his brother has died. His brother’s widow invites Abdi’s family to move into the house. Abdi’s family leaves Khadija’s cramped home and moves in their aunt’s house, which is bigger, but also has more rules. As Hassan and Abdi lie in their shared room, they talk about the films they have seen. Hassan reveals that he wants to leave Somalia. Though their lives are harsh, Abdi cannot imagine leaving his home country. Still, since he has been learning English at Falis’s cinema, he has fallen in love with American culture. He learns swear words and hangs posters on his wall. When Madinah finds a poster of Madonna in a bikini, she is furious. Basbaas whips Hassan and Abdi. From that moment on, the family blames Abdi for the family’s misfortunes and for bringing foreign evil into the home.

Hassan and Abdi are not deterred. They try harder to teach themselves English by listening to American radio broadcasts. The imams in the mosques lecture them on the evils of movies, soccer, and foreign cultures—to no avail. Soon, Abdi’s English skills are good enough that he is asked to translate movie dialogue for the audience. His parents hope that he will become an imam, but Abdi now has other plans: Movies teach Abdi about “the world beyond Somalia” (66) and he pesters his mother with his newfound cultural insights.

By 1996, “some culture and normal life were returning to Mogadishu” (67), albeit slowly. Abdi tours the ruins of the presidential palace and other abandoned institutions, visits candy stores, and listens to music. He falls in love with reggae and hip-hop. His favorite artist is Michael Jackson. Armed with a cheap stereo and some tapes, he teaches himself to dance. Abdi and his friends try to dress fashionably and walk “with a ghetto swagger” (69). He is nicknamed Abdi American and has a burgeoning reputation. At the same time, however, Abdi and Hassan begin “to drift apart” (69): They have different interests and different friends. Hassan takes up pigeon racing and drops out of religious school. Because of this, his parents disown Hassan and throw him out of the house so he must live on the streets. 

In 2000, Abdi graduates from religious school. While Basbaas delivers a speech about the importance of Islam, Abdi thinks only about movies, music, and American culture. To celebrate, he watches “Coming to America” at Falis’s cinema. When he returns home, however, his parents tell him that they have arranged for him to become Basbaas’s assistant. Abdi refuses. A tension emerges between Abdi and his mother, who still dreams of him becoming an imam. Madinah kicks Abdi out, so he joins Hassan.

Abdi and Hassan, now 14 and 15, spend their days avoiding the militias. New, more violent groups have “emerged from the ashes of the civil war” (71). Abdi records a rap song with his friends who have also been kicked out of their family homes. Occasionally, they sneak back into their parents’ houses to steal food and sleep in the abandoned ruins. When the rains and the mosquitoes return, however, Abdi has to go back home. Hassan briefly joins him. Abdi still refuses to return to Basbaas, but he starts teaching English to earn a small amount of money.

Two economic classes emerge in Mogadishu: Those with relatives abroad who can send money back to Somalia, and those without. Abdi’s family has no relatives abroad and he resents those who do. Abdi’s mother works a hard job for very little money. One day, his father leaves to start a farm in Baidoa. Abdi understands that his father never truly settled in Mogadishu. Plus, Abdi admits, his father’s departure means more freedom. As Abdi gets older, he worries that he will be recruited into a militia. For most boys, the choices are to be an imam or a soldier. Abdi wants neither.

Now back on the streets, Hassan still wishes to leave Somalia. One of the routes out of Somalia is through the refugee camps but Hassan cannot afford to buy transport to one of these camps. He returns home to receive his mother’s blessing. Abdi and Hassan sell all of Hassan’s pigeons and raise $12. Hassan leaves the house with $12 and a blanket. He departs for the Kenyan border in a green Mercedes weighed down with junk, driven by a one-armed man with qat-stained teeth. 

By March 2004, Abdi and his friends have formed a dance group that performs at weddings for food. Typically, they find weddings by looking for clouds of smoke somewhere in the city. One bride’s father is so happy that he pays Abdi a few American dollars. More importantly, Abdi gets a name among the city’s women. Everyone knows him as Abdi American.

At one wedding, Abdi meets a girl named Faisa and teaches her to dance until her sister drags her away. Abdi discovers that her father is Sheikh Omar, an important cleric. Abdi seeks Faisa out and the two try to arrange dates. Nothing is private in Mogadishu, however, so their dates are limited to the beach and to the cinema. Eventually, Sheikh Omar finds out. Furious, he complains to Abdi’s mother, who beats her son with a broom. Soon, everyone in the city knows about Faisa and Abdi but he cannot see her. After weeks of separation, they manage to meet in the same forest where Abdi saw monkeys and gathered fruit when first fleeing the civil war. Abdi takes the bus and plans to kiss Faisa. He kisses her on the cheek, a moment that Abdi will “never forget” (84). The next kiss, she tells him, will have to be on the day of their marriage. Abdi knows that this will be a challenge.

A letter from Hassan reaches the family. He has made his way to a refugee camp in Kenya; he writes that Abdi should set up an email account. One day, strangers arrive at the house. They scold Abdi for not attending the mosque, and one of them, a man named Omar who is a cousin of their father, gives Abdi a dollar bill. Eventually, Abdi realizes that Omar hopes to marry Nima (now 14). Nima is shocked: Omar is twice her age. Still, he is Rahanweyn and willing to pay a dowry. Abdi learns that his father arranged the marriage. Madinah is delighted for her daughter.

The wedding is just a week later. Omar is a pious man so the ceremony is very religious with no dancing. After hours of dull prayers, Abdi rebels: He gathers his friends and puts on a show with music and dancing. Many of the more religious guests leave, but Abdi is happy that he made his sister happy on her wedding day. He and Madinah walk Nima to her new home.

Madinah decides to follow her husband back to Baidoa, now a bustling market town, but when she gets there, she finds her husband now has a new wife and a child. Though men can take as many as four wives in Somali culture, Madinah says goodbye to her husband.